


Fire Ferret Fan Mail

by heartsyhawk



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Other, team avatar gets fanmail
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-25
Updated: 2012-06-25
Packaged: 2019-07-08 07:39:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15925892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartsyhawk/pseuds/heartsyhawk
Summary: To maintain his brother's innocence, Mako sorts Bolin's fan-mail to weed out the creepiest things. He especially hates this job in the spring when all earthbenders, particularly already adorable Bolin, are extra attractive.





	Fire Ferret Fan Mail

**Author's Note:**

> I do not make any claim of ownership of any of the characters from Legend of Korra. I'm just borrowing them because I love them.

Mako has never been fond of springtime. For one thing it's allergy season and in addition to being drained and sniffly and having a harder time focusing on his pro-bending, he has to worry about accidentally setting things ablaze when he sneezes fire. For another he needs to make absolute positive sure that Pabu don't get out—he and Bolin had never been able to afford the procedure to neuter the fire ferret but if he escaped the apartment he'd wander for weeks until he found a female fire ferret in heat. With warmer weather there were also a lot less odd jobs available for a firebender. And then there was what it did to Bolin.

Spring has always been the season associated with earth. Every spring earthbenders are rejeuvenated just like the earth they are spiritually bound to. Bolin is no exception; every springtime he's at his liveliest, his happiest. His eyes are brighter, his smile wider, his jokes come faster and easier. He gets about six times sweeter and three times easier to love. And there lies the problem.

Mako is not the only one who notices the yearly change in his little brother. While Bolin has never been short droves of fangirls, it increases ten-fold every spring. The past couple of years, what with the attention from pro-bending and puberty, have only increased the attention. And the one major thing Mako had realized was that fangirls were crazy. Mako was always pretty uncomfortable with the girls (and occasional guy) who threw themselves at his baby brother and offered everything from dinner dates to marriage and everything in between and it only ever got worse in the spring. If for nothing other than the increase of creepy fanmail.

Spirits, he hated the fan-mail. He got his fair share of it too, and initially let Bolin deal with his own. However he very quickly realized that if he wanted to preserve his brother's innocence he really had to filter the creepier stuff. So on nights, much like this one, when he had nothing else to do he'd take sacks of the mail and sort through it.

He'd been at it for three hours before Bolin came up the ladder into their attic with a bag of take out and the Avatar herself at his heels. "Hey bro, we brought dinner!" He chirped happily as he offered a hand to help Korra into the apartment.

"Great, what'd you get?" Mako asked as he gently put a letter back into an envelope and placed it in the "acceptable" pile before grabbing another.

"Would you believe that the Avatar has never had Fire Nation food?" Bolin threw his arms in the air.

"Sozu's then?" Mako smiled appreciatively. He glanced at the letter in his hands and shuddered. A quick burst of flame incinerated it and he reached for another.

"Yeah. I had to right this supreme miscarriage of justice." Bolin said sternly.

"What can I say, the South Pole still has lingering issues with the Fire Nation." Korra shrugged. "The hundred year war nearly destroyed the Southern Water Tribe. Apart from the airbenders, the South Pole still has a much smaller bending population than the other nations."

"That," Bolin huffed and waggled a finger, "is no excuse for letting the Avatar reach 17 without ever trying a volcano noodle bowl."

Korra laughed. "Yeah, I'll be sure to tell the White Lotus that next time I'm home." She turned her attention to Mako who'd just flipped the letter in his hand into the 'absolutely not' pile of mail. "What are you doing?"

"Fanmail." He muttered and put another letter into the first pile.

"Wow, you must be pretty popular, captain." She said teasingly.

"Oh it's not mine." He assured her. "I got through my bunch already. This is Bo's."

She blinked, confused. "Oh?"

Mako nodded and stood. "Yeah. Some of it gets a little...adult, especially around this time of year. I go through it first and make sure there's nothing too creepy for him." He rolled his eyes and groaned as he stretched. "Tell me you brought me dragon beef, little brother."

"And pheonix rice." Bolin beamed. "I know your faves, bro. And since it's Korra's initiation I also picked up some ginger pork, hot soup, sour cabbage with lobster shrimp and a bottle of spice tea. One of you can heat it up."

"Knew there was a reason I kept you around." Mako smiled affectionately at his brother. He moved to the cupboard to grab some plates, cups, and chopsticks.

Korra was still staring at the piles of mail in relative awe. "I don't get it. It's just mail, how bad can it be?"

Mako raised an eyebrow. "In this batch alone there's been sixty-three marriage proposals of varying degrees of indecency—so far. At least seven were from guys, one of whom is in prison for murder. And two from women old enough to be our Great Grandma." He said flatly. "And those are the most normal ones."

Korra laughed until she saw that he was serious. "Wow for real?"

"And that's the mild stuff." Bolin chimed as he served himself some of everything. "Anything good so far, bro?"

"The old lady who runs the butcher shop sent over some jerky and soup. And Mr. Chan sent over a fruitbasket and his daughter's regards."

"Wait so the fruit girl's advances are ok?" Korra raised an eyebrow.

"Well Chun-Mi is five." Mako smiled. "And her regards are generally a crayon picture, so I find I'm not terribly concerned."

"She's an earthbender." Bolin elaborated with a grin. "And she's already told her dad she wants to be a pro-bender when she's old enough. I answer her letters first."

"Ah." Korra nodded. "That's pretty sweet."

Mako nodded and took a few bites of his dinner. "It is. That's why I go through the stuff; we only answer the normal ones."

Korra poked at her food for a minute contemplatively. "Is this just, like, a guy thing? I'm a pro-bender too and I've never gotten any crazy fan-mail."

"Really?" Bolin wrinkled his nose. "I'd have thought it would be worse. 'Cause you're also the Avatar. And a pretty girl." He blushed lightly, but she was too busy thinking to notice.

"Oh people probably send the creepy stuff to you." Mako assured her. "Someone's probably filtering it before you ever get it though." He shrugged. He didn't point out that hers probably got worse in the spring too, because she had traces of the earthbender springtime boost too.

Her jaw dropped. "I'll bet the White Lotus has been doing it." She crossed her arms. "And I wouldn't put it past Tenzin either."

"Trust me when I say you aren't missing out." Mako frowned.

"I wanna see some of 'em." Korra's hand shot out to grab one of the letters Mako had deemed inappropriate. He caught her wrist immediately.

"No! Korra, please, put that down!" He tried to grab it away, unsuccessfully.

She held it intentionally out of his reach. "No! As the Avatar it's my responsibility to know what the people are getting up to." She said smugly.

He gaped at her. She was pulling rank on him? "And as Team Captain it's my responsibility to keep my younger teammates from viewing such smutty trash."

"You're not even a whole year older than me!" She argued. "And besides, it can't possibly be any raunchier than the things Jinora's always reading and she's ten."

Mako gave her a pained look. "Well I'm not in charge of monitoring what Tenzin's daughter reads."

"You aren't in charge of monitoring me, either!"

He gave her another long-suffering look. "Korra, neither you or Bolin should be reading these kinds of things until you're older."

She scowled at him. "You're not my Dad, Mako. And even if you were, 16 is when a girl's considered an adult in the Water Tribes. I'm 17 so I've technically been an adult longer than you have." She said smugly and flipped the envelope open.

Mako threw his arms up. "Fine then, look at that rubbish, see if I even care."

"Does that mean I can-" Bolin started excitedly.

"No, Bolin." Mako rolled his eyes affectionately. "Legal's still 18 in Republic City."

Bolin gave a cheeky grin. "Can't blame me for trying though."

"There's plenty of good stuff for you." Mako promised. "One girl wrote you a couple haikus about Pabu. And someone else made a calender filled with animals and silly captions. Oh and one of the littler kids made you a stuffed...well I think it was supposed to be a Fire Ferret, but the letter from the kid's mom said she was only eight."

Bolin brightened and continued eating his dinner more quickly so he could get to his pile of mail.

"Wow this is pretty terrible..." Korra wrinkled her nose and took a couple bites of her own dinner. "I mean, 'sticks and stones will break my bones but whips and chains excite me'? And a...wow that's a really detailed diagram..." She blinked at the paper in her hand.

Bolin looked up, startled. "Whips and chains?" Korra ignored him and set it aside and grabbed for another one.

"Hey don't look at me," Mako narrowed his eyes at Korra. "I tried to warn you. But you had to see for yourself."

As soon as the Avatar had the next one open she wrinkled her nose. "Do I want to ask what a 'Fire Ferret sandwich' is?" She looked up with raised eyebrows. "No, you know what? I don't think I really want to know...my imagination can fill in the blanks on that one."

Mako's ears and neck flushed bright red. "Like I said. Some of them get a little adult..."

Korra was still undeterred and half through pulling the next one out of its envelope. "Wow, this one is kinda violent. Why would somebody who supports Tahno's team even bother writing you? Oh." She flushed. "Discouraging your apparently sordid fling with the Wolf Bat's earthbender makes sense."

"My what?" Bolin cocked his head to the side. "With...with...Ming?" He looked horrified.

"Some of these guys have twisted imaginations, Bo." Mako said gently. "One of mine today was from a devastated Rabiroos fan bemoaning the fact that I plan to get their earthbender pregnant so they can't compete in the championships." He rolled his eyes and then paused. "I don't even know her name. We've never actually talked outside a match..."

"HEY!" Korra scowled. "This one's asking about ME!"

Bolin's interest was immediately piqued. "Yeah?"

Korra glowered at the letter. "Yeah!" She huffed out a plume of fire and then her expression cooled to disgruntled surprise. "I would have thought I'd have noticed if we were exchanging 'smoldering bedroom eyes' until we 'could make it back to the locker rooms and go at it like rabbit-mice' during every match..."

Bolin flushed and he looked flustered. "I don't think I'd have been able to forget that." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Well they included a whole list of terrifying suggestions for us and want to know if I bend when I—" She snapped her mouth closed, horror and shock playing across her rapidly reddening face. The letter ignited in her hand immediately. Mako wasn't sure if she'd even meant to do it.

"Aw, your first piece of disturbing fan-mail making awkward insinuations about your love life." Mako cooed. "I told you you didn't want to read these."

Korra snorted and grabbed another letter. "How many of these involve me?"

Mako shrugged. "A few I guess. I wasn't actually counting 'em."

"Do you get any about me?"

He looked away, embarrassed. "Yeah." He coughed. "Aparantly a lot of people assume we have a really...physical relationship. I got one from the person who sent the one you just read too. I get the whole gamut of stuff, from threats to praise to advice to questions to snarking."

"Well this one's accusing you guys of 'corrupting the Avatar and sullying my good name'." She snickered. "Where do people come up with this stuff?"

"Yeah, if anything you're the one corrupting him." Mako rolled his eyes. "Are you done?" He stretched a hand toward the letter.

"No," she swatted his hand away. "I need to live vicariously through Bolin's mail. Tenzin and Howl won't ever let me have any fun letters like these."

"Howl?" Bolin cocked his head to the side. He continued talking around a mouthful of noodles. "Who's that?"

"One of the White Lotus guards assigned to me." She waved a hand at him in disinterest. "He seems just uptight enough to go through my mail to make sure I don't get any of this."

"I bet you drive him insane." Mako commented dryly.

"Every chance I get." She smirked wickedly and skimmed the next letter. "Ah monkey-feathers. This one's not about me." She frowned and her eyes widened. "Ew though." She tossed it down and reached for another.

Her eyebrows climbed impossibly high. "Bolin! How could you!"

The earthbender immediately looked alarmed. "What, what? What'd I do?"

"You're cheating on our imaginary love with Tahno!" She lost the ability to hold a straight face and buried her face in her arms and shook with roars of laughter. "Look! This one painted it!" She shoved the surprisingly well done painting toward him to see.

Bolin choked hard on a mouthful of food and Mako had to thump him on the back several times. The older brother sighed and handed over a napkin.

"You do know that you're defeating the point of me weeding out the sketchy things, right?" Mako rolled his eyes.

"Oh I don't mind." Bolin assured his brother.

"Yeah. Like I said. She's the worse influence of the pair of you." Mako sighed. He raised an eyebrow at the Avatar sprawled over his kitchen table giggling into a plate of spicy foods like an absolute lunatic. "If the press could see you now, Avatar Korra."

She shrugged because really she didn't actually think it was possible to care less and grabbed for the next letter. The laughter stopped immediately and she wrinkled her nose. "Oh that's nasty."

She held up something delicate, pink, and silky very gingerly by a thin band of lace on the top. "Who mails someone their underwear?" Mako sighed heavily and glanced at his brother who looked torn between mortified and morbidly curious.

"The kind of girls I really would rather my brother not be mixing with. And the one of the top reasons I go through the fanmail before he gets it." Mako grumbled.

Korra nodded. "That makes sense. Is this a common thing?"

"More common than it should be." The older brother rolled his eyes. "I haven't quite figured out what about my brother is indicating to these weirdos that he wants their underthings mailed to him, but I'm working on it." He promised.

He looked back at Bolin. "If you're done you can start going through the good stuff. I picked up some envelopes and paper earlier." He smiled affectionately.

"Ok. Wanna see some of the good ones, Korra?"

Korra ignored him and rolled her eyes at the contents of the next letter. "Of course there would be pictures. This shouldn't surprise me." She peered at the picture with disdain. The girl was tiny and curvy and wearing a killer smile...and not much else. Her hair and a well placed fire ferret pennant were keeping her decent, but only just. "Guys actually go for this kinda thing, or are these girls just crazy?"

Mako's whole face suddenly matched the tattered scarf around his neck. He sputtered awkwardly and settled for grabbing the photograph from her hand. Bolin fidgeted and looked like he wanted to bolt from the conversation and maybe the whole attic.

"I don't know if crazy is a fair word..."Mako murmured. "The ones that send pictures think it will increase their chances of, uh, getting to know us better." He shifted uncomfortatbly.

"And does that actually work?" She asked incredulously. "You guys sort through the pictures and pick which groupies to take home?"

Both boys turned even redder than she'd have thought possible. Mako scrubbed at his temples and pinched the bridge of his nose. "That's a little personal Korra. I don't think we should really talk about that kind of thi-"

"Oh Spirits! That's totally a yes, isn't it!"

"Uh, not me!" Bolin raised a hand. "Since that first time I invited a girl back here I've always had a chaperone."

Mako grit his teeth and turned on his brother. "You were fourteen. I seem to remember you actually thought she wanted to see what your bedroom looked like. And even if you did have any idea what exactly you were getting into I didn't want to be an uncle. Still don't yet." He chastised. "Don't wanna end up like Hasook."

Korra tilted her head to the side, trying and failing to suppress a snort of laughter.

"Oh like you were some kind of master romancer at fourteen." Bolin mumbled sourly.

Korra sobered. "Uh...no. I broke a guys nose for flirting with me at my thirteenth birthday celebration actually..." She reminisced. "Master Katara laughed about it for hours, even after she finished healing him." She grinned sheepishly. "She said it was about the exact opposite of how Avatar Aang would have reacted...Hey wait, Hasook? He was your waterbender before me, right?"

"Yeah." Mako nodded. "And before you ask, ending up like him means ending up married at seventeen to someone you knew for a few hours one night so you don't end up with a baby out of wedlock."

"Babies. Lana had twins." Bolin corrected and Mako frowned and nodded.

"So you don't bring home fangirls?"

Mako gave her a hard look. "How many White Lotus guys have graced your bed?" He asked bluntly and she balked. "I know the Avatar has no shortage of fans. Do you take any of them home?" He smirked as she looked startled. "The squirming isn't so fun when you're on the receiving end, is it. Let's keep the personal stuff off the table, okay?"

Korra nodded with a small frown. "I get it, not my business." She fidgeted. She looked uneasy and then couldn't keep herself from blurting. "But for the record, I'm not...taking White Lotus guards or Avatar fans or random guys on the street to bed with me."

Bolin looked relieved and Mako shrugged. "You stop making assumptions about our relationships, we won't make any about yours."

Korra waved him off and reached for another couple letters."Why would someone write such a long letter telling you all the ways they think you suck at pro-bending?" She commented with disgust. Bolin's bottom lip trembled. "They complained that you earthbend too much like a firebender. But I don't get how that would be a bad thing. It's like you told me when we first met, grounded like I was, you'd be a sitting turtleduckling in a match. The kicks and flips and agility are a strength."

He beamed at her gratefully and she eagerly opened the next one. "Oh me again! This one wants to know when we're getting married." She narrated. Her eyes widened immediately. "Because I look pregnant?" She stared at her stomach in horror. "Do I really look like I'm gonna have a baby?"

Mako buried his face in his hands. "No, Korra, you don't."

Bolin shook his head immediately. "Absolutely not. You're beautiful." He cringed. "Wait...not that you wouldn't be really beautiful if you were going to have a baby too, but you aren't. At least I don't think so. You'd have probably told us if you were. But you don't look pregnant at all."

Korra smiled. "Oh, ok then."

"These people are crazy and see what they want to see." Mako assured her gently.

"Crazy is right." Korra mumbled over yet another letter. "This one came with a pack of cigarettes, a box of condoms a jar of plum jam and a paintbrush. Says 'have fun'."

Mako picked up a small box. "That's nothing. This guy sent my brother two fireworks. A packet of itching powder, and a pair of really silky underwear and matching socks." He raised an eyebrow.

Bolin shuddered and held up a letter from the "acceptable" pile. "This one says I've gotten much better at pro-bending this season." He said tentatively. "And she sent a coupon for the Jade Monkey malt shop. Korra, you ever have a malt?"

"Uh, no, can't say that I have." She shook her head.

"Ice cream soda?" He asked curiously.

"Nope." She said after a moment's thought.

"Milkshake?" His eyebrows knitted in concern.

"Fraid not." She shrugged simply.

"What did they even feed you in the South Pole?" He asked incredulously. "You got anything going on tomorrow? You and me are going to the Jade Monkey and you are not leaving until you have had at least one of each."

She laughed. "That sounds nice." She agreed and grabbed for yet another letter. After a moment she snickered dryly. "Bet you've always wanted a set of these, huh Bolin?" She lifted her hand and spun a pair of pink furry handcuffs around her index finger.

Bolin's cheeks got a little pinker but he smirked playfully. "Don't know if I can honestly say always..."

"The two of you are going to be the death of me." Mako groaned and massaged his forehead. "Korra, please?"

"What?" She demanded, still spinning the hand-cuffs carelessly.

"Those aren't a toy." He reprimanded.

"Actually they are." She said cheekily.

"You know what I meant." Mako sighed. "Please put them away? I don't want them at my dinner table."

"Fine, Mom." She said with an exasperated huff. She continued to the next letter. "This girl painted what she imagines it would look like if you and she hooked up." She raised an eyebrow. "It's actually kinda good. Girl's got some talent. Creepy that she'd use it like this, but whatever."

She set it down and grabbed for another. "Ooo! Here's a nice horrifyingly creepy one, Bolin!"

"Why do you sound so excited about it?" Mako grumbled. Bolin shushed him and beckoned her to continue.

"This woman wants to have a baby—your baby." Korra elaborated.

Bolin apparently looked sufficiently horrified, because Korra continued. "But she goes on for six pages about you being so innocent and virtuous and she wouldn't want to inconvenience you with child-support or the burdens of raising a child so she sent a little jar and a return address."

Bolin blinked several times, and opened and closed his mouth like a confused fish. "But...why?" He squeaked uncomfortably.

"Don't even worry about it, bro." Mako said soothingly. "I don't want to be an uncle for a long while yet. You're too young to be looking after a baby."

"Well, here." Korra said thoughtfully. "Back at the South Pole he's old enough to be proposing marriage if the girl he likes is over 16 and talking to her dad and brothers and sifu—if she's a waterbender—if he likes a girl who isn't quite 16 yet. A lot of couples start with the babies early."

Mako gave her an exasperated look as Bolin squeaked. "Well we aren't in either Water Tribe, and and what is it with your culture and such a low age for adulthood?"

Korra shrugged. "I never really thought about it."

"Either way, no babies for Bolin. I think we can all agree on that?" Mako stared at both of them. He thought for a moment and then glowered at Korra. "And that goes double for you, Missy. You're enough trouble without a tagalong infant."

"What about you!" Korra snorted.

"What about me?" Mako crossed his arms. "I've got my hands so full with dealing with the pair of you that I've got nothing to worry about."

Korra rolled her eyes but acquiesced that he had a point and grabbed for the next letter. Her face paled immediately and she dropped it like it had bitten her. "Ok, this one wins. It's the creepiest. I think it's...Oh gross...I think it's painted in blood." She gaped at it for a few minutes and turned to Bolin in horror and shuddered.

Mako gave it a quick glance. "Yea, that's blood alright."

Korra looked nauseous. "I might be sick. Bathroom's downstairs right?" She stood up quickly and moved to the stairs leading down into the gym.

"She laughs at graphic paintings of you and Tahno rutting like koala sheep in the spring, and the fans that have a thing for you in bondage, but a little blood freaks her out?" Mako shook his head and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I do not understand that woman."

"Well it is pretty freaky." Bolin gulped. "I mean, that's really not normal, is it? Sending somebody a creepy love letter and using blood instead of ink?"

"Not normal is kind of the point of these." Mako said gently. "And the letter isn't creepy until you realize what it is written in. You just keep going through the fun ones, okay?"

Bolin nodded uneasily and gave the sheet of paper and its disturbing ink one last wary glance as Mako folded it back into its envelope.

Mako continued sorting through the letters quietly. He set the okay ones closer to Bolin and tossed the inappropriate ones onto the pile Korra'd been enjoying and wondered hopefully whether the blood letter had been enough to lose her interest in Bolin's fanmail.

"What the..." He said flatly as he opened the next package. Bolin looked up from the letter he was reading and the smile slipped from his face a little.

"Another crazy one?" He asked timidly.

"I really hate the spring, Bo. Your fans get extra crazy. At least this one isn't TOO bad as far as the insane ones go. It's just this is the first time someone's sent something like this."

"Well now I'm curious." Bolin set his letter down and stared hopefully at the little box in his brother's lap.

Mako gave a long-suffering sigh and delicately held up a headband with large furry ears on top.

Bolin laughed and reached for it. "It's Pabu ears!" He eagerly arranged the band atop his head and grinned. "How do I look?"

"Ridiculous." Mako said flatly.

Bolin, predictably, ignored his brother. "I love them. What do you think, Buddy?" He scooped his beloved pet up from the table where he sat munching some noodles from a tiny bowl. Pabu, long used to Bolin's overeager behavior, curled around his boy's neck and trilled a happy purr. "I look just like you now!"

Mako rolled his eyes. "The note says they're handmade and you can adjust them to suit your mood. You can set them down to reflect 'sad' and back for 'angry'. Oh and it came with a matching tail."

"OOOOH let me see!" Bolin reached for the box and Mako sighed and fished out a long fluffy tail that looked painstakingly identical to Pabu's. "Someone actually made this for me? Wow it must have taken forever!"

Mako gave a curt nod. "She certainly put a lot of effort into it." He said hesitantly.

Bolin wrinkled his nose. "It's from one of the weird ones, isn't it?"

The older brother nodded gently. "There's six pages of what I think is meant to be poetry about how much exactly it would mean to her for you to wear it and what exactly she'd do to you if she saw you with it on. There's also a suspiciously accurate drawing of you wearing nothing but those ears, the tail, and a smile."

Bolin shrugged. "Okay, well that's...uh...creepy. But, still, look how awesome these ears are! And the tail is so cool! Ooh we should see if we can get you and Korra a set and then we could wear them at matches! It would be perfect! Think how great we'd look."

"Not sure great's the word I'd pick." Mako smirked and crossed his arms. "I don't know that I really want to be seen dressing like your pet in public."

"Just ignore him." Bolin assured his pet. "He's just jealous you're such a girl magnet." He glowered at his brother playfully and rubbed Pabu under the chin.

"Yeah. Let's go with that." Mako snickered.

Bolin struck a silly pose and pouted. "Oh shush. I'm gorgeous and you know it!" Mako tried desperately to hold a straight face before bursting out laughing.

Bolin grinned and pulled another pose. "Admit it! I'm pretty enough to model."

"Spirits give me strength." Mako chuckled. Bolin threw his head back and pursed his lips. "Modeling, Bo? Really?"

"What? I can't help it that I got what ladies want." Bolin gave a smarmy smirk that reminded Mako uncomfortably too much of Tahno and patted his flexed bicep.

Mako affectionately ruffled his brother's hair, which made the earthbender pout sulkily. "I'm sure all the girls want a boy with pretend ears and a tail."

"You know it, bro!" Bolin rearranged the band on his head so it was straight again and struck a really suggestive pose. "

At the same time, Korra climbed up the ladder into the attic appartment and froze. She quirked an eyebrow at Bolin, who was positioned like one of the male illustrations from Jinora's inappropriate romance scrolls, all the while wearing a set of furry ears and holding up a tail just like Pabu's. Her mouth fell open and he turned violently pink and started stammering.

"Korra!" He yelped in surprise. "Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah, yeah." She waved it off. "Do I want to ask?" she raised an eyebrow. "About the ears and tail and...uh...everything?"

"Crazy fan with a freaky fetish." Mako shrugged. "Bo's decided he's gonna give up pro-bending to pursue a career as a model. Apparently for a magazine catering to crazy girls."

Bolin looked a lot more embarrassed by the idea now that his brother was sharing it with Korra and sunk into himself a little bit.

Korra just gave him a critical look and cocked her head to the side. "Hm. Yeah, you know, you'd probably do pretty well as a model." She mused thoughtfully. Bolin shot his brother a self-satisfied smirk. "And the ears are kinda cute." She strolled up to him and flicked one playfully. "Hey you know what? We should get Mako and me a set and all wear them during games."

"I'm not going to win this am I?" Mako asked warily as both Bolin and Korra turned to him, eyes wide, hands clasped, bottom lips wobbling in unision.

Korra's pout crept into a smirk as she and Bolin shook their heads. "Not a chance, City Boy. In a vote we out number you. We're only asking as a courtesy because you're team captain."

Mako groaned. "I really hate that you're earthbenders. Stupid spring..."

**Author's Note:**

> This was posted to Ao3 9/7/2018 but was originally published on fanfiction.net under a different title and user name 6/25/2012 I have changed nothing in posting it here.


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